Leon Russell – April 2, 1942 - November 13, 2016

Classic Rock pays tribute to the late Leon Russell

With his flowing mane of silver hair and his long, silver beard, Leon Russell had become an iconic elder statesman by the time he was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2011. That honour came in the wake of his album The Union, which he wrote and recorded as one half of a piano-man duo with Elton John. At the induction ceremony, John recalled the influence that Russell’s playing had had on him early in his career. “He sang, he wrote and he played just how I wanted to do it,” John said, declaring Russell to be “the master of space and time”.